[Advaita-l] Free Will

[prem d p]

namaste...
 
Here are a few thoughts of mine on the subject. Request your critical review.
 
It is important to first have a clear understanding of what we mean by 'free' and 'will' before
the problem of 'free will' could be tackled.
 
Words and language are such that they both reveal and hide at the same time, by virtue of
being symbols. Moreover languages have an inherent devious character which causes the
unsuspecting to be tied up in apparently inextricable knots and paradoxes.
 
Free means free of what, free of something, the state of being unforced etc. Be careful to
note that to talk of freedom from self is to walk into a trap!
 
Freedom, on deep reflection can be seen clearly to be nothing but 'being Self'. Freedom
and Self are synonymous. Thus we move towards freedom by realizing our self. This is
transcendence of an apparent state of non-freedom (Vidyashankarji pointed this out in his
earlier post on the subject).
 
Now what is freedom of choice? This lies in the ability to draw into oneself,
expand into another dimension, or transcend the prevailing state. Often the fact that a
multiple choice situation is presented to oneself is thought to be sufficient condition for saying that free will exists. To me 'free will' consist in our ability to transcend.
 
Now what is 'will'. Will in its barest essence is same as 'light', 'life', 'consciousness'. As
may be realized, the Self or Consciousness is the enlivening principle behind all 
phenomena.
 
Will is also thought of as the motive power, sakthi. This aspect of will I believe is merely the
way the enlivening principle is viewed from the vantage point of the phenomena or 'the
created'.
 
So 'free' is 'self', 'will' is 'consciousness', and 'free will' become real in the fact that
transcendence to the pure state of self is possible at all.
 
...prem
 


      The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage. http://in.yahoo.com/